Ham pumping control method



Oct. 8, 1957 a. "r. HENSGEN EI'AL l-IAM PUMPING CONTROL METHOD Original Filed May 5, 1953 MEQ ASKA INVENTORS BERNARDT HENSGEN H WARD 6 REICB E L J. PR0 5r Arm/J2 United States Patent HAM PUMPING CONTROL METHOD Bernard T. Hensgen and Howard G. Reichel, Chicago, and James J. Prohaska, La Grange, IlL, assignors to ivlvift & Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of arms Original application May 5, 1953, Serial No. 353,148, now

Patent No. 2,755,731, dated July 24, 1956. Divided 21612262153 application February 15, 1956, Serial No.

2 Claims. (Cl. 99-459) flavoring liquid, commonly referred to as pickle into the meat. Because of economy, uniformity, and/ or the effect of the requirements of governmental regulations, the usual practice is to have the amount of injected pickle bear a definite relationship by weight to the pre-injection weight, usually referred to as the green weight, of the meat. in times past this has been done by weighing the meat cut, referring to a table to determine what should be the weight of that meat out after the pickle has been added thereto and the injecting of pickle into the cut, While the cut remains on the scale, until the weight indicated by the scale is that obtained from the chart. Various semi-automatic devices have been proposed to reduce or eliminate the step of referring to a chart and the mental noting of what should be the weight of the cut after injection, but in general such devices tend to be complicated with delicate adjustments that may get out of order and require expert technicians to repair. The principal object of the invention is to provide a method which does not require this mental step and yet the apparatus used is very simple in structure and operation, with little to get out of order. In addition, because of this simplicity, no highly skilled technical knowledge or experience is necessary to keep the device in operating condition and to return it to such condition should a malfunction occur.

A particular advantage of the invention is that the apparatus has a minimum of moving parts, with a majority of the parts either being stock items or being simply constructed, usually by ordinary metal working operations.

An additional object and advantage of the invention is that the method may be performed by relatively unskilled labor. Little is required in the way of pre-instruction before operators can be permitted to proceed by themselves. No high degree of mental skill or knowledge is required of the operator.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

Figure l is an elevational view, partially diagrammatic and partially in section, of an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a section taken at line 2-2 of Figure 1, on a slightly enlarged scale;

Figure 3 is a section taken at line 33 of Figure 1 on an enlarged scale; and

Figure 4 is a partial, diagrammatic, view of an alternative embodiment of the invention.

The method we have devised involves the translating of the weight of the meat cut into fluid pressures in two portions of an enclosed fluid. By a differential process the fluid pressure in one portion is measured and frame for the device.

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indicated in terms of the weight of the meat cut plus a given percentage of that weight, which additional amount represents the weight of the pickle to be added to the cut. This measurement is then fixed by isolating that portion of the fluid from the remainder of the fluid so that any further changes in pressure in the remainder do not affect the registering of the measurement. The pickle is then added to the meat cut while continuing to translate the total weight of the cut plus the pickle therein into pressure in the remaining fluid and measuring that pressure in terms of weight. When this latter measurement equals the fixed measurement initially set from the pressure in the one portion of the fluid, the meat cut has received the desired amount of pickle so that the flow thereof may be discontinued.

The drawings and the following description cover an embodiment practicing this method and in addition illustrate certain variations in the embodiment. The description of a specific embodiment is for the purpose of complying with 35 U. S. C. 112 and should not be construed as imposing unnecessary limitations upon the appended claims, inasmuch as other variations will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

Referring to Figure l, a case, generally 10, forms the Within the case is a fluid system, generally 11, divided by a differential, generally 12, into two parts 13 and 14. As will be seen from the drawing, the major components of the fluid system 11 are standard pipe and cutting items.

The structure of differential 12 is best illustrated in Figure 2. It comprises a pair of base plates 16 and 17 to which are secured bellows 18 and 19, respectively. Bellows 18 has an inflexible outer plate 21, while bellows 19 has a similar plate 22. A rod 23 interconnects plates 21 and 22. The areas of plates 21 and 22 varies, with the amount of variance being determined by the percentage by weight of pickle to be added to the meat cut, so as to produce a fluid pressure in portion 14 of the fluid system the same percentage greater than the fluid pressure in portion 13 of the system. For example, if the weight of pickle to be added to the ham 24 is 10% of the green weight of the ham, the area of plate 22 should be 90.9% of the area of plate 21, whereby the pressure in portion 14 will be of the pressure in portion 13 of the system.

The fluid pressure in portion 14 of the system is measured by a Bourdon gauge, generally 26, best illustrated in Figure 3, with the Bourdon tube 27 of the gauge communicating with pipe 28 of portion 14 of the system. The free end of tube 27 is connected to an arcuate rack 29 pivotally mounted on a pin 30. A pinion 32 secured to a shaft 33 engages rack 29. Shaft 33 is journaled in case 34 of gauge 26. At one end of shaft 33 projects an arm 36 having a detector 37 at the unsupported end thereof. In the illustrated embodiment the detector 37 takes the form of an electrical contact. Preferably shaft 33 is formed of a nonconductive material to prevent shorting the electrical Wiring hereinafter described.

Means are provided whereby the portion of the fluid system with which the gauge 26 communicates may be isolated from the remainder of the system so that changes in fluid pressure in the remainder of the system will not be reflected in a change in the fluid pressure in said portion. In the illustrated embodiment this takes the form of a valve 38 having a solenoid actuator thereon.

Communicating with portion 13 of the system is a second gauge, generally 41, the structure of which is identical with that of gauge 26 except that arm 42 of gauge 41 is mounted on the other end of shaft 43 thereof. Shafts 33 and 43 are mounted on a common axis of rotation and positioned so that detector 44 of gauge 41, which detector again takes the form of an electrical contact in the illustrated embodiment, and detector 37 of gauge 26 move along a common path.

Portion l3 of the fiuid system 11 also includes a branch pipe 1'6 leading to a large pressure gauge 47 of conventional design, the dial of which gauge is calibrated to indicate the weight in pounds of the ham 24 on the scale. interposed along pipe 46 is a valve 48 controlled by solenoid 49.

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generally 51, is connected to system ll to ssure on the fluid therein proportional to the of the object, in the illustrated case, ham 24, o be a ighed. In the embodiment of Figure l, the trans- ]:rtirg means 51 comprises a cylinder 52 in communication with the iluid system i and a piston 53. To the upper end of piston 53 is secured to a supporting plate on w ich the objects to be weighed can be rested. the pickle is injected into the meat cut through a lie 56. A pipe 57 leads to a suitable supply source will of pickle or other liquid to be injected. A

hose 53 connects needle 56 with pipe 57. Interh; electrical control system is shown diagrammatically Wires 62 lead to a suitable source of electipply and are connected to a terminal board 63. arate series circuits are connected to terminal .he first of these series circuits includes a switch, ciuuramnizuicnlly shown at 65, normally closed contact 66 of a relay, generally 67, and the three solenoids 60, 3:3. and a), respectively. it should be noted that valves 3:; rnitl are normally open and are closed when solenoids 3 and 49, respectively, are energized. Valve 59 her hand is normally closed, and is opened lOltl 6! is energized. second of these series circuits from terminal board comprises the coil 63 of relay 6! and the two contacts dot; 44 and 37.

- cnibodi nent of Figure l is operated as follows: The trim 2t with the needle 56 connected thereto is placed upon platform 54, which causes the weight thereu' to t-ppeur in all portions of system It as tluid pressure not to the weight of the ham. However,

i rcntial 12. the pressure appearing in poro the system is greater by a predetermined perthan the pressure appearing in portion 13 of .lcm. These pressures will cause arms 36 and 26 and 41, respectively. to move along s of travel, with arm 36 turning an angular .tnt-e greater than the angular distance turned by arm i he uiticrcnce in the angular amount of movement n Lyle by said predetermined percentage. The i of the ham is indicated on the dial of gauge 47. i h 65 is now closed, completing the series circuit contact 66 and solenoids 6t), 49, and 39, thereby opening valve 59 and closing valves 38 and 48. The closing of valve 38 in effect disconnects gauge 26 from the tluid system and retains the setting of arm 36 thereof at the point determined by the initial Weight of ham 24-. it will be apparent that the operation will be the same should the position of ditterential 12 and of valve 35 be interchanged in the system. At the same time the closing of valve 48 disconnects gauge 47 from the system to hold the setting on the dial thereof showing the initial weight of the ham. This retention of the initial weight of the ham on the dial of gauge 47 is for the purpose of facilitating the completion of the pumping of a ham should there be a failure in the system during the pumping. If by some chance there should be a subsequent failure, the ham may merely be put on another scale and sufiicient pickle added to bring the weight of the ham plus the pickle up to what it should be for the initial Weight of the ham, which was returned on gauge 47.

The opening of valve 59 allowed the pickle to comlll mencc flowing into the ham. As this occurred the pressure in the portion 13 of the fluid system continued to increase, with that increase being reflected in the angular setting of arm 42 of gauge 4i. When the pressure in portion 13 reaches the pressure initially established in poi ion M by the action of differential 12. the two detectors 3 and 44 will reach a common point on their paths of travel and the contacts thereof will close. With the closing of the contacts a series circuit is established through e il 6% of relay 67 to open the relay contact 66. I :7? of the contact 66 of relay 67 breaks the series ci'cuit through the three solenoids 60, W, and 39, to close valve 59 shutting or? the flow of pickle and opening valves 43 and 38 for the next cycle. When th s we rs the operator also opens switch 65. It will .lppurc". that since the initial pressures in portions and i4 ditl cred by a predetermined amount estate lished by ditlerential 12 and the pre....re n portion 13 wit subsmuently brought up to the initial pressure in portion M by the addition of pickle to the barn at which time the flow of pickle was stopped, that the amount of pickle added to the ham was said predetermined amount of the initial weight of the ham.

With no load on the scale the contacts of detectors 37 and 44 will meet at zero to energize relay 67 and open contacts 66. This prevents any accidental closing of switch at that time from energizing solenoid 6t] and opening valve 59. As soon as the contacts move away from zero the relay 67 drops closed to set the system for operation as described.

Figure 4 illustrates certain modifications that may be made in the apparatus of Figure 1, while still practicing the method initially described. As in the case of the first embodiment the tluid system. generally it. is divided into two portions 13' and 14. The two gauges, generally 26 and 41 are connected to the two portions 754' and 13, respectively. As before, the gauges are positioned coaxially so that the two detectors 32" and 44 rotate along a common path. It should be understood that Figure 4 is a diagrammatic representation and the actual physical position of the two gauges 26 and it would correspond to that illustrated for the gauges 26 and M in Figure 1. The important difference between the embodiment of Figure 1 and the embodiment of Fig ure 4 is that the increase in movement of the arm of gauge 26 over that of gauge 41 which is obtained by reason of the mechanical structure in the gauges rather than through the use of a pressure differential mechanism such as that illustrated at i2 in the embodiment of Figure 1.

With respect to gauge 26', pinion 32' is rotated by curvilinear rack 29' pivoted about a pin 30'. The link 79 that interconnects the Bourdon tube 27 and the arm 71, secured to rack 29', is relatively close to pin 36, where it is secured to arm 71. In gauge 41 the link 72 that inter onnects the Bourdon tube 73 and arm 74- of rack 75 is positioned on arm 74 a greater distance from pin 76. Thus, for a given movement of Bourdon tube 27' in response to a change in pressure in system 11. arm 71 of gauge 26' will have a greater angular rotation than will arm 74 in response to the same change in pressure and same movement of Bourdon tube 73 of gauge 41. correspondingly the angular movement of pinion 32' and detector 37' will be greater than the angular movement of pinion 77 and detector 44. The difference in angular movement is proportioned by the length of arms 71 and 74, as measured between link 70 and pin 30 and between link 72 and pin 76, respectively, to achieve a percentage difference corresponding to the percentage of the weight of the meat cut that is to be added to the cut in the form of pickle. The same variation may be achieved by a diiference in size of pinions 32 and 77, which difference in the illustrated embodimerit would be so small as to be substantially nondetectible in the drawing.

A further change in the embodiment of Figure 4 is in the details of the weight translating means, generally 51. It will be noted that in Figure 4 translating means 51' takes the form of a bellows 80 interposed between a base plate 81 and supporting plate 54. The interior of the bellows 80 communicates with the fluid system 11'.

Except for the foregoing changes the remainder of the structure of the embodiment of Figure 4 corresponds to that illustrated in Figure 1. When the ham 24 is placed upon the supporting plate 54', detector 37' moves along the common path a predetermined percentage greater than the movement of detector 44 along the same path. The closing of switch 65 energizes solenoid 3 to close valve 38' shutting off portion 14' of the system from portion 13 thereof and fixing the position of detector 37. As previously explained, this also starts the flow of pickle into the ham, with detector 44 continuing to rotate in response to the increase in pressure in portion 13' 0f the fluid system. When the two detectors reach a common point on their path of movement the circuit is broken through the pickle supply solenoid to shut oil the pickle.

This application is a division of our copending application Serial No. 353,148, filed May 5, 1953, now Patent No. 2,755,731

We claim:

1. The method of pumping hams including the steps of producing pressures in two portions of enclosed fluid proportional to the weight of the ham, measuring the pressure in one of said portions in terms of the weight of the ham plus a given percentage, maintaining the pressure in said one portion, and adding pickle to the ham while proportionately increasing the pressure in the other portion and measuring the pressure in said other portion in terms of the weight of the ham plus the added pickle until the last mentioned measured weight equals the first mentioned measured weight.

2. The method of pumping hams including the steps of producing a pressure in an enclosed fluid proportional to the weight of the ham, producing a pressure in a second enclosed fluid proportional to the weight of the ham plus a given percentage, measuring the pressure in said second fluid, maintaining the pressure in said second fluid at said measured amount, and adding pickle to the ham while proportionately increasing the pressure in the first fluid and measuring the pressure in said first fluid until the pressure in said first fluid equals the pressure in said second fluid.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNiTiiD STATES PATENTS 2,106,038 Rumsey Jan. 18, 1938 2,303,010 Walter Nov. 24, 1942 2,346,953 Walter Apr. 18, 1944 2,663,247 Hensgen et a1. Dec. 22, 1953 

1. THE METHOD OF PUMPING HAMS INCLUDING THE STEPS OF PRODUCING PRESSURES IN TWO PORTIONS OF ENCLOSED FLUID PROPORTIONAL TO THE WEIGHT OF THE HAM, MEASURING THE PRESSURE IN ONE OF SAID PORTIONS IN TERMS OF THE WEIGHT OF THE HAM PLUS A GIVEN PERCENTAGE, MAINTAINING THE PRESSURE IN SAID ONE PORTION, AND ADDING PICKLE TO THE HAM WHILE PROPORTIONATELY INCREASING THE PRESSURE IN THE OTHER PORTION AND MEASURING THE PRESSURE IN SAID OTHER PORTION IN TERMS OF THE WEIGHT OF THE HAM PLUS THE ADDED PICKLE UNTIL THE LAST MENTIONED MEASURED WEIGHT EQUALS THE FIRST MENTIONED MEASURED WEIGHT. 